Bondsman: Mom Not Helping Search for Daughter

Aug. 27, 2008— -- A week after her release from a Florida jail, controversy continues to swirl around the mother of missing toddler Caylee Anthony.

The bail bondsman who bailed Casey Anthony out of jail told ABCNews.com today that Anthony has not made an effort to help bounty hunters find her missing daughter.

Tony Padilla, the nephew of California bounty hunter Leonard Padilla, who arranged to have Anthony released on bond last week, said, "Maybe we got duped a little bit. Maybe we overestimated her."

Asked whether he would have bonded Anthony out of jail knowing what he knows now, Padilla said, "Hindsight being 20/20, probably not."

Leonard Padilla arranged to post Anthony's $500,000 bond, saying he thought he could persuade the 22-year-old to reveal what happened to her missing daughter.

Padilla's comments come as the Orlando Sentinel reports today that air sample tests taken from Casey Anthony's car found evidence that a decomposing body was in the trunk.

At a July bond hearing, police said "evidence of decomposition," including hairs the same length and color as Caylee's, was found in the trunk of the car.

Anthony's mother, Cindy Anthony, said in a 911 call that the car smelled "like there's been a dead body" in it. Cindy Anthony has since retracted those comments, saying the smell could easily have been from garbage in the car.

Local media also reported today that prosecutors offered Anthony partial immunity for statements she makes, if they lead investigators to Caylee.

A spokeswoman for the state's Attorney's Office declined to comment, but said that Anthony "was invited to our office to shed light on the disappearance of the victim in this case."

Earlier this week, prosecutors released more than 400 pages of documents, including police reports and transcripts of interviews, that portray Anthony as troubled and a habitual liar. The documents also allege that Anthony wanted to give Caylee up for adoption before she was born but that her mother wouldn't let her.

Anthony has said her daughter has been missing since mid-June, but she didn't report it until more than a month later. She has not been charged with her daughter's disappearance, though police have said she is a "person of interest" in the case.

She faces charges of child neglect, making false statements and obstructing an investigation for allegedly lying to the police.

According to the documents, Anthony told police that she left the child with her baby sitter, then couldn't find them when she returned from work. But, no one had lived at the address Anthony gave for the baby sitter for months.